Rising in the East
by sssweetie
Summary: A series of vignettes set in Beast's perspective throughout the story. Partly songfic to the theme of the whole movie, Beauty and the Beast. Companion piece to my other work, Certain as the Sun.


Disclaimer: Characters belong to Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Rising in the East

_Tale as Old as Time_

The Beast had forgotten his own name.

Or that was what he liked to tell himself as he hid in the shadows that draped over his gloomy castle. He did not want to remember it; he refused to be called it by his servants. He was only Master or Your Highness now. But even that caused his open wound to bleed.

His name reminded him too much of his old life, with his family (and if he could reach back far enough into his memory banks he could remember something like friends too). He did not like his past life . . . his human life. It was the life that caused _this._

He was a monster now, and nothing could change that. Nothing would change that even if a girl came walking through the door and decided to live in a dark, terrifying castle. What kind of girl would do that to herself?

There was no true love or happy endings in this story, just defeat and misery. What sort of fairy tale would be cruel enough to marry a beautiful girl to a **monster**?

The Beast felt a pang of guilt for his servants. He wished he could release them from this desolation. They did nothing wrong, especially the children and the animals. Besides, he thought to himself as a dark cloud rolled in, I'd rather be alone anyway.

* * *

_True As It Can Be_

The girl is insane.

She must be mad. Her father seemed mad, why couldn't she be mad? The Beast wondered as he paced back and forth after his unbelievably long day.

So much had happened in one day.

He didn't understand it at all.

Had his prayers finally been answered? The prayers that he secretly spoke to a God he wasn't sure existed?

If they had been answered, he was sure God was sadistic. The girl would not cooperate at all. He asks her to dinner, she refuses, he asks her again politely, she refuses rudely, he orders her not to go to the West Wing, she waltzes in there, she runs away and gets chased down by wolves and HE has to go save her. After she invades his privacy, he has to go be the hero! And then she has the audacity to tell him that he needs to learn to control his temper! (A little voice in the back of his head tells him that she's right, but he squishes it like a bug).

But, the same wispy voice (that somehow resembles Mrs. Potts) spoke again, she did thank you for saving her life. And she is very kind when she's not angry. All of the servants like her . . .

He looked at his monstrous reflection in the magic mirror before whispering her name, "Belle".

Her name did speak plenty for her, he observed as she said goodnight to Mrs. Potts with a bright smile. She was very beautiful, but it was the intelligence and kindness that played in her eyes that was her most attractive quality.

Not that it mattered anyhow. This would all be for naught. No one could love a beast.

* * *

_Barely Even Friends Then Somebody Bends Unexpectedly_

He felt for the first time in a long time that he had did something right.

She looked like she was about to sprout tears of joy onto the floor as she glided around the massive library, spouting off titles and authors. She was smiling brightly in every direction of the room.

With that smile the Beast knew that they were going to be fine.

They were friends after all.

* * *

_Just A Little Change Small to Say The Least_

As he fed the birds, the Beast couldn't help but notice that Belle looked more beautiful than usual.

She practically glowed with. . . happiness? No, that couldn't be it, he corrected himself. Who would be happy in a cursed castle?

He found himself smiling. He was becoming happy, an adjective that hadn't been used to describe him in a very long time, even before the curse. But ever since she had come, a ray of light started to melt his icy soul.

And the feelings that he at first squished down had become stronger and stronger since their first meeting. The beast looked into her eyes and knew she felt it too.

Well, he mused, before being hit with a snowball, this is new.

* * *

_Both a little scared neither one prepared  
_

He wanted to do something nice for her again. She was always so nice to him, teaching him how to read, slurping down breakfast so he wouldn't feel awkward. She deserved something wonderful as her.

But he was afraid to ask.

As they read the tale of Cinderella together, he asked without thinking if she would like to have a real ball like that?

Her answer was worth the fear.

* * *

_Tune as Old as Song_

His mind was blank. He couldn't remember the steps to the dance. This was the dance that he was forced to practice almost every day as a boy and he couldn't remember it.

Belle looked nervous and he noticed that she was doing the leading.

The Beast smiled inwardly and realized if she, a peasant girl who knew nothing about the waltz, could do it, so could he.

And later when she placed her tired head on his chest, he knew that the risk of messing up was worth the song and dance.

* * *

_Bittersweet and strange finding you can change  
_

He looked at her heartbroken face and knew that he would never see it again.

He loved her too much to separate her from her father any longer. It broke his heart more to see her suffer than it did to be away from her.

"You are no longer my prisoner."

But was she truly ever, he wondered as she left the room hurriedly. She was my teacher, my friend, my guest, and the girl I fell in love with, he decided, but she was never really my prisoner.

* * *

_Learning you were wrong_

"Because. . . **I love her**"

If the beast had known six months earlier that he would be saying those words he would have lost his temper and thrown whoever told him this in the tower . . . but he knew differently now. He was wrong before, he could learn to love.

He loved her with all of his heart. But he knew she would never feel the same, he is a beast.

But as one of Belle's favorite writers said, it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

* * *

_Certain as the Sun Rising in the East_

He didn't understand why she came back or why the man with black hair and vicious eyes was there in the first place.

All he knew and understood was that relief flooded his pain when he saw her sitting by his side. He knew she had come back but he did not and could not believe it. Until he was stabbed.

She was trying to comfort him, but her kind face and soft words had already comforted him. She was just so beautiful, inside and out.

"At least I got to see you one last time. . ."

* * *

_Tale as Old as Time_ _Song as Old as Rhyme_

My hands, my hands, he felt like shouting to the world. The Beast was no longer a beast! A second thought rapidly followed as he contemplated his body that Belle was in love with him as much as he loved her!

Jubilee descended on his figure before he realized that a very startled girl stood before him.

"Belle, it's me!" he explained, hoping and praying that she would realize that he was her Beast that she loved.

The questioning in her brown eyes made every second feel longer than a year. That is, until her eyes met his. Then she knew for certain.

And so he kissed her with as much fervor and love as he had been wanting to almost as soon as she snuck into his life.

* * *

_Beauty and the Beast_

The celebration could have been considered boring, but he did not care.

She was there with him, and they could sneak off if they wanted to. They were going to get married and live happily ever after just like those fairytale couples in those storybooks she read to him.

He was not a monster anymore, but he was still his Beauty's Beast.

* * *

(A/N) This of course is a companion piece to my other work, Certain as the Sun. Personally, I like that one better, but I would be interested in knowing which one you prefer. Thanks for any feedback you give. I hope everyone enjoyed this!

Btw, I worked on this a long time ago, I just recently re-discovered it on my computer. I only did a little bit of editing. (Oh and to any Enchanted Sleep readers, I honestly have no idea when a new chapter is coming out. No inspiration. At all. Sorry.)


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